Do You Find Inside Picking Or Outside Picking Harder And Why?

Which Do You Find More Difficult - Inside or Outside Picking?

Why do you find the one you chose to be more difficult? What happens when you do it that doesn’t happen on the one you find easier?

Depends on whether you’re descending or ascending. Your pickslanting will determine this in addition. For example ascending inside changes are easy for my and descending inside changes are harder.

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No meaningful difference between the two. Honestly can’t even tell. If you’re relaxed while performing both types, you’ll find the same. I think the difficulty is exaggerated and players have their preferences because they never learned to remain relaxed while doing one or the other or both. If all that you play on the instrument is within your total control, nothing is necessarily hard.

Sometimes I think I find one hard, and sometimes the other, which leads me to think that it’s something ELSE about the lines in question that’s tripping me up.

Inside string changes are so much easier for me. The bulk of my practice at present is trying to address this.
Funnily enough, although slower, my outside picking sounds really clean sometimes a lot cleaner than my relaxed inside picking… Why is the guitar so damn hard!!!

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Depends on the context but as a general I use inside picking more and it is extremely comfortable to me. I use it for way more things. That said outside picking is the only way I can play certain specific things and in those contexts it’s the “comfiest” available option. I find I’m usually not consciously aware of if I’m using one or the other, it’s only now when I’m learning or writing new material that I think about what approach I’ll take.

Outside picking is much more easy for me.
My guess is that because I tend to do small movements with more or less prominent pick planting. The very idea of moving my pick from the string I’m going to play next upsets my right hand ) And that large pickstroke I have to do after… Comparing to outside picking when my pick moves to the next string and stays close to it before picking - the choice is obvious.
Though after CtC I try to use large movements more.

I’m stll not sure on the difference between the two. Is this correct ?

start on Upstroke = outside

start on Downstroke = inside

And why is one called inside and the other outisde? Inside what ? Outside what ?

Is there a tutorial with a picture or basic explanation somewhere ?

Cheers !

It’s picking between a pair of strings. ‘Outside’ when the pick strikes the ‘outside’ of both strings. i.e. downstroke on a lower pitched string followed by upstroke on a higher pitched string, or vice versa. ‘Inside’ when the pick feels like it stays ‘inside’ the two strings*, i.e. downstroke on a higher pitched string followed by upstroke on a lower pitched string.

*Though obviously as either way the pick has to pass through the strings both ways it doesn’t really stay inside anything.

Outside picking has always been the weirdest/hardest for me and naturally through practice I just became accustomed to starting on an upstroke so i can inside pick or if i start with a downstroke
(D U D), then I just continue the Downstroke onto the next string. I am trying to find ways/motions to improve efficiency for outside picking, but even if i can do it, how much benefit will it yield? Sometimes I think it’s just better off to set up /create your licks based on what your strengths are. This is what all the best guys did

Great description @Prlgmnr ! Thank you

well, it depends if your DSX then going up it will be outside picking if you do overlapping 6s and inside if do it on the way back down. It doesn’t feel any different going one way or the other when doing strick DSX. On USX then doing pentatonic 2note stuff would be the same going up then back down again and if you’re comfortable with USX would make a difference. Its the 2-way stuff that makes one seem harder than the next I believe.

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For me it depends on the speed I am going. At hyper speed I find it wayyyy harder to hit an “inside” string change cleanly compared to an outside. It feels like it should be easier - but when I actually slow the recording down I am not hitting it cleanly. Interesting.